The present invention generally relates to a machine for automatically making rolled food products and, more particularly, to a machine for automatically making egg rolls, spring rolls which are each referred to as "Haru Maki (or Harumaki)" in Japan, crepes or the like. A "Harumaki" is known as a deep fried pastry made by wrapping an assorted food stuffing, for example, a seasoned mixture of vegetables and ground pork, in the form of a roll with a generally rectangular crepe or egg roll skin prepared from a mixture of egg and wheat flour, and then by deep frying the resultant rolled product.
FIG. 1 of the accompanying drawings illustrates the sequence of formation of rolled food products according to the conventional method, and reference will now be made thereto for the details thereof.
Referring to FIG. 1, there is shown a generally rectangular crepe or egg roll skin prepared by lightly baking a paste of egg and wheat flour on a heated iron plate or the like and having first and second diagonally opposite corner portions and third and fourth diagonally opposite corner portions, as generally indicated by N. In the first step as shown in FIG. 1(I), an assorted food stuffing M is placed on the crepe N at a position somewhat offset from the center thereof and adjacent, for example, the first corner portion and, thereafter, the first corner portion of the crepe N is folded so as to overlay the assorted food stuffing M as shown in FIG. 1(II). Subsequently, the third and fourth corner portions of the crepe N are successively folded, as shown in FIG. 1(III), so as to overlap with each other above a central area of the crepe N and also to overlay the opposite end portions of the assorted food stuffing M and, finally, the assorted food stuffing M so wrapped halfway is rolled up with the second corner portion of the crepe N bonded to the rolled body as shown in FIG. 1(IV), thereby completely the raw egg roll.
While FIGS. 1(I) to 1(IV) illustrate in perspective view of the material being prepared sequentially to form the raw egg roll, the material being so prepared is shown in cross sectional view in FIG. 2, wherein FIGS. 2(I) to 2(IV) correspond respectively to FIGS. 1(I) to 1(IV). As can readily be understood from FIG. 2, the assorted food stuffing M is wrapped at a portion Ma with a larger number of overlaps of portions of the crepe N than at the opposite portion Mb thereof. This means that the assorted food stuffing M cannot be uniformly wrapped having a thicker covering of the crepe N adjacent the portion Ma thereof than adjacent the portion Mb. Accordingly, when the raw egg roll so formed in subsequently subjected to a deep frying process or a baking process, uniform heating of the egg roll is often hampered. Specifically, because transmission of heat energies towards the food stuffing M through the thicker covering of the crepe N adjacent the portion Ma of the food stuffing M requires a longer time than through the thinner covering of the crepe N adjacent the portion Mb of the food stuffing M, it has often occurred that the portion Ma of the food stuffing M is left uncooked.